Family TV.

Power Shortage

Newest `Power Rangers' As Shoddy As Ever, But It Gives Kids What They Want

May 15, 1997|By Harlene Ellin. Special to the Tribune.

Often when adults view their favorite childhood television shows through grownup eyes, they realize how truly awful those beloved programs were.

They see the weak and repetitive story lines, the bad acting and the cheap sets or low-budget animation they didn't seem to notice as kids. Which doesn't necessarily diminish one's affection for these programs and may even make them more endearing to nostalgic adults. Remember running home after school to watch "Speed Racer" and "Gilligan's Island"?

If one series is destined for this designation, "Power Rangers" seems a sure bet. Seemingly impervious to schlock, millions of children devotedly have followed the saga of the color-coded crime fighters since they made their debut as the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" in 1993 and morphed into "Power Rangers ZEO" last season. Someday in the future, our children surely will laugh at this bargain-basement production when they find themselves engrossed in a Sunday afternoon rerun on some obscure cable station.

But for now, Saban Entertainment, the live-action show's producer, is hoping the "Power Rangers" will "continue their captivating hold on kids"--and their allowance money, although they don't come right out and say that--for another season or two. Thus, they bring us the show's latest incarnation, "Power Rangers Turbo" (4:30 p.m. weekdays, WFLD-Ch. 32), which made its debut last month, and, of course, all-new Turbo merchandise.

(However, if kids' cold response to the recent box-office bomb, "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie," is any indication, this show might be the one to finally loosen that captivating hold for good.)

The premise behind this latest chapter remains the same as the preceding installments. Five attractive, spandex-clad youths from the once-peaceful community of Angel Grove fight villains with bizarre names. This time around it's Divatox, a space pirate in dominatrix gear, and her lackeys Rygog, Elgar and Porto, who are obsessed with destroying the Power Rangers and ruling the world. (Doesn't Angel Grove have some anti-stalking law these poor kids can invoke?)

Supposedly, the coolest thing about this latest episode is the special Turbo Zord super-charged vehicles the Power Rangers drive in their battles with Divatox. Of course, the cheesy-looking cars are perfectly color-coordinated with the Power Rangers' costumes and sport names clearly designed to make 8-year-old boys drool--Red Lightning, Dune Star, Wind Chaser, Desert Thunder and Mountain Blaster. You better believe that toy versions of the cars now are available in stores.

Of course, there have been some changes in the always-morphing cast. This year, Justin (played by 11-year-old Blake Foster) dons the blue costume and becomes-- wow!--the youngest Power Ranger in series history. Justin, who made his debut in "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie," replaces blue Power Ranger Rocky (Steve Cardenas), who was injured in a karate accident.

Zordon, the Power Rangers' sage leader and guide, and his robot sidekick, Alpha 5, also left the show this season. Lucky Zordon finally got out of that nasty interdimensional time warp he has been stuck in all these years. The beautiful and powerful Dimitria, and her lackey, Alpha 6, have arrived to replace him.

But despite these changes, nothing much really has changed with the Power Rangers. Yes, Saban attempts to promote the show as a pro-social series that imparts positive messages such as the virtues of honesty, hard work, teamwork and tolerance. But those lessons often get buried under the obligatory explosions and battle scenes between the heroes and their enemies.

This latest installment also maintains the shoddy production standards synonymous with all things Power Rangers. The show has such a low-budget look that it almost comes as a surprise that the actors' lips and voices move in sync. The performances are either wooden or super-campy, as if the actors studied at the Al Gore-RuPaul School for the Performing Arts. The costumes surely are leftovers from Kmart's Halloween clearance sale. And the sets--particularly the interior of Divatox's supposedly powerful vehicle, the Subcraft--look like they might fall over if a Turbo Zord zoomed by.

Not that any kids will notice or care about these blatant shortcomings. And they actually may look back on them fondly one day. Our only hope is that children tire of this saga long before anybody gets the bright idea to create another chapter--and new product tie-ins to sell with it.

And now let's change the channel . . .

- "Animorphs," the wildly popular children's book series, will come to television in fall 1998. Nickelodeon and Scholastic Productions Inc., which produces "Goosebumps" and "The Magic School Bus," have entered an agreement to create a sci-fi action-adventure series based on the best-selling books by K.A. Applegate. "Animorphs" follows the adventures of five teenagers who can transform themselves into the animals they touch. The characters use their animal emotions and instincts to outsmart a sinister alien force.